Girls' lunch date @ Mom Tri's Kitchen, Phuket (Thailand)

Last month, my friend and I left the husbands at home and went to Phuket with our kids and nannies for a short holiday. My sweet friend and I were trying to plan this family trip together for at least a year, but unfortunately when the time came to bring this idea to fruition, her husband's boss refused to give him time off work during the summer school break! So we just decided to go ahead with a trip without the men! Thankfully my hubby was pretty good about me taking the kids on a vacation without him - and why would he refuse having five days of peace and good sleep? I was doing him a favour by taking the kids on a trip! My friend and I chose Phuket, somewhere we'd both been to before, so we didn't feel like we had to do and see everything with 7 kids in tow. Yes, we had 7 kids in our travelling party. We did the smart thing and stayed at a resort near the beach with a cool pool and a kid's club, so that there were always things to do with the kids. Travelling with kids is not easy, but my friend and I both share a common love for travelling and refuse to let having kids stop us from travelling.

Travelling to lunch in a tuk tuk:

Though Perth is home for both of us, she also became an expat wife a few years ago on a completely different continent, so we have not been able to meet up in person for years. So during our trip, we had a lunch date together without the kids, and it was so good to connect and just talk, one-on-one without the distraction of kids and husbands and life. I couldn't think of a better place for a date in Phuket than Mom Tri's Kitchen (though that is largely due to a lack of knowledge and experience rather than a lack of options in Phuket). I had a lovely experience at Mom Tri's Kitchen before, six years ago with hubby when our oldest was just a toddler before any siblings came into the picture. The setting was as beautiful as I remembered, the service was as attentive and courteous as before, and the food was delicious. The lunch menu was solely focused on Thai and Asian cuisine, and we enjoyed everything that was served. Great company, beautiful setting, and delicious food - quite the perfect experience!

Our table by the window overlooking the ocean:

My friend's calamari was so good! Fried to perfect crisp without the grease:

The fresh spring rolls were refreshing and contained the right ratio of chewy noodles, crispy vegetables and fresh prawns:

My friend's soft shell crab burger looked so good, I had serious plate envy:

My salmon dish was simple and delicious, and the accompanying papaya salad was awesome! I know this looks healthy, but after a few days of holiday eating, this was just what I wanted:

My friend could not resist ordering the pavlova after spying it on the menu. It was actually not too sweet, like I expected. Look at them beautiful fresh fruits!

Coffee, of course:

Mom Tri's Kitchen
Mom Tri's Villa Royale
12 Kata Noi Road
Kata Noi, Phuket 83100
Thailand
Email: fb@villaroyalephuket.com
Hotel Tel. +66 (0) 76 333 569

Phuket trip: Phi Phi Island Tour

Continuing on in my photo-journaling of our recent Phuket trip. I bring you the final post on the subject. On our last full day in Phuket, we'd woken up very early to embark on a lengthy ferry journey to the beautiful Phi Phi Islands (these islands received worldwide attention when one of the islands was used as a film location for the 2000 movie The Beach). I'd booked the tour through the same guys that I used for the safari tour, and the itinerary ensured a comfortable day trip to the islands and back (and our 3-year-old son travelled free of charge since his age falls below the age requirement for a child's fare). We were picked up at our hotel and driven to Rassada Pier where we boarded the very crowded Phi Phi Cruiser ferry. Our tour package gave us VIP privileges, meaning that we could sit in relative comfort inside an air-conditioned room, and have some biscuits and drinks during our journey without having to pay extra. The VIP was nice enough, but the seating arrangement was first-come-first-served so there was no guarantee that our group of three could get seats together. In fact, by the time we boarded the ferry, the only available seats were single seats here and there. One family with a young child was kind enough to sacrifice a seat by sitting their child on the lap so that we could be seated close together.

The aircon in the VIP room was quite cold, and we stepped outside a couple of times. The boy pulled a lot of faces for the camera:

Phi Phi Islands are beautiful, with breathtakingly tall limestone cliffs, large caves and long white beaches. We saw Maya Bay, where "The Beach" was filmed (but didn't go in because the ferry was too big), and we went past the Monkey Beach. The following photos are more of what we saw.

This is Pileh Bay, which our ferry was too large to enter:

Viking Cave, where birds' nests are harvested for the thriving bird's nest soup industry:

The boy pulling more faces for the camera:

A panorama of the view as the ferry was approaching Phi Phi Don Island where we docked (click for larger image):

After the ferry docked at Phi Phi Don, we transferred to a snorkel boat that took us to Coral Bay. The VIP group got on to a barge that was moored in Coral Bay while the other group got ready to snorkel. On the barge, we could go down into the hull, where we could experience the Under Sea World Aquarium, which is apparently the "first and only live aquarium". It's a pretty unique concept - we stood on a wooden frame about 2m under the sea surface, and fish were swimming in and out and all around. We were also given some bread to feed the fish. Our boy was terrified and refused to let go of us the whole time we were in the thigh-deep water, but he loved feeding the fish.

The whole room was cast in a greenish blue hue because we were underwater:

We could also watch the fish swimming in the open water while staying dry in this Under Sea World Aquarium:

We also got to swim and snorkel with the fish in the open water. Super fun, but not easy with a non-swimming 3-year-old!

We then got on the snorkel boat which headed back to Phi Phi Do. Lunch was provided, and the food was pretty good, but my dSLR had just taken a fall as we were stepping into the restaurant, and I was too upset and distracted to take any food photos. There was time to explore the island, but we headed straight back for the boat so that the boy could get his nap. It was a fun day, but we spent so much time travelling. The live aquarium alone was worth the small extra we paid to get the VIP package.

Home-style Thai @ Lucky Tom's, Phuket

Call me slow, but it was only recently that I gained an appreciation for Thai food. Having grown up with delicious Malaysian food, I spent most of my younger days snubbing Thai food which I'd thought to be similar but inferior. It was only when I consider them as entirely separate cuisines and not compare them, that I could start appreciating Thai food. On our recent trip to Phuket, we not only got to experience haute Thai cuisine, we also had the opportunity to eat some good home-style Thai cooking. After having had an early start to the day to join a safari-style tour, we were tired even before the sun went down. We still wanted to eat dinner out, so I did a quick search on tripadvisor, and found Lucky Tom's which currently holds the #2 spot for restaurants in Kata Beach. It was also not too far away from our accommodation, so it was the no-brainer choice for dinner.

Lucky Tom's from the outside. Various fish and seafood on ice for selection:

This small and cozy restaurant is owned by Lucky and his wife Tom, and they serve up simple but delicious local fare cooked by Lucky's mum. This place caters to tourists very well (the menu had translations in several languages as well as photos), and you won't see the locals eating here, but I think it's the best place in the vicinity to try the local cuisine in a hygienic and comfortable environment. The dishes are also affordably priced. The menu also had some European dishes, but we didn't pay much attention to them. There were a number of daily specials hanging up on the wall along with various memorabilia and photos, and these we studied more closely. Lucky was happy to accommodate our boy's food allergies to nuts, soy and sesame.

Some of the daily specials on the wall:

Refreshing and sweet coconut water:

A simple but tasty Fried Rice, for the boy:

One of the daily specials on the wall - Green Curry with Fish Ball in Coconut. The best fish balls I've ever eaten (and I've eaten a lot!):

These fish balls were sublime! Lucky informed us that these fish balls were hand-shaven from a mackeral. Definitely not like the processed ones:

Gai Pad Krapow (Thai Basil Chicken) - one of the most well-known Thai dishes, but this was my first time eating it. Spicy, just the way I like it:

My favourite leafy green was on the menu - Kangkung, otherwise known as morning glory and water spinach. Not kangkung belacan, but this garlic-and-oyster-sauce version was the next best thing:

The classic Thai dessert - Mango and Coconut Sticky Rice. A winning combination:

We spied Fried Ice Cream on the menu, and it had been years since we last indulged in one. This generous scoop of ice cream was enveloped inside a slice of bread:

We enjoyed this simple dinner of home-style Thai food.

Lucky Tom's
67 Taina Rd,
Kata Beach, Phuket
Thailand
Tel. +66 076-330240

Phuket trip: Multi-adventure Safari Tour

The title of this tour we did during our Phuket trip makes us sound like daredevils (which we are), but travelling with a 3-year-old toddler has its limitations. I'd booked the tour through these guys, who assured me that it was suitable for our son to participate in (and he got in free-of-charge because he is under 4). There were a lot of activities packed into this half-day tour at the picturesque Island Safari location, and elephant trekking, a boat trip down Moo Dong River and watching a Thai cooking demonstration were just some of what we did. The following photos (from both the dSLR and the point-and-shoot) show what we got up to that morning.

The first activity - ox cart riding:

The tour site had some rice paddy fields and abundant of green scenery:

After dismounting the ox cart, we walked through an orchid garden and saw some unusual exotic flowers such as this one that resembles the West Australian native kangaroo paw:

Then we were treated to a "fish spa" treatment - I could not stop laughing because the fish-nibbling was very ticklish. The boy literally jumped out of the water at the first fish nibble and refused to go back in:

We saw many monarch butterflies all around the site:

Elephant trekking - the highlight! We could buy bags of bananas to feed our elephants, and we fed our elephant two bags full of bananas in small gratitude for allowing us to sit on her:

Enjoyed beautiful scenery during our elephant trekking:

We also saw two young elephants who performed various acts for the audience. I felt bad for exploiting them so I bought a bag of bananas for them:

We then hopped into an offroad 4x4 and headed for Moo Dong River where we could either canoe down the river on our own, or sit in the relative safety of a long-tail (no prizes for guessing which one we opted for). Mangroves and monkeys to see:

We headed back to camp and watched a cooking demonstration on how to prepare som tam (the famous Thai papaya salad). Apparently the chef used to work at a 5-star hotel restaurant:

Crunchy and crisp with the right combination of sour, spicy, salty and sweet. It was so delicious that we went back for seconds:

We were shown the traditional method of farming rice, and there were specimens of the rice plant in its various stages of growth:

We watched this guy pound the rice grains in the large pestle and mortar, and then proceeded to winnow the grains from the husks:

There was a Muay Thai demo, and I learned about the dance ritual that takes place before a match to show the fighter's respect and gratitude to his trainer:

Rubber trees are a valuable resource in Thailand, and we were shown how rubber is tapped from the tree and how it's processed:

It was a long morning, and I was glad when it was finally time for lunch. The dishes were typically Thai, including som tam, Thai-style fried chicken with sticky rice, cashew chicken, and son-in-law eggsgreen curry. The tour operators were informed of the boy's allergies and he was given a special bowl of cashew chicken without the cashews:

We had loads of fun, and this tour was a great way to do and see many Thai cultural activities and eat Thai food. The following day we were also up bright and early for a day trip out to the beautiful Phi Phi Islands where we swam with the fish.

Phuket Old Town and the Weekend Market

Phuket is known for its beaches, bars and nightlife, but this popular tourist destination is so much more than that. I am not very good at being a beach bum, and I packed our itinerary with as much as travelling with a toddler would allow (got great tips from this blog written by an expat who has lived in Phuket a long time). After our delicious lunch, we called for a taxi to bring us to Phuket City for 500baht. That's quite pricey by Phuket's standards, but it was a very comfortable 30-minute ride in a very nice vehicle. It's worth to just pay a little extra to make life easier for travelling with a young child. At some point during the drive, I negotiated with the driver to bring us not only to Phuket Old Town, but also to the weekend market and then back to our resort on Kata beach. The driver was willing to take out 3 hours of his time waiting for us at each site and doing that round-trip for only 1200baht (he was asking 1500baht), and we didn't have to worry about how to procure transport between locations and back to our hotel. (In our pre-kid era, we would have gotten around the local way of using tuk-tuks and taken on the streets and language barrier by accepting that getting lost is just part of the experience - but having a kid changes everything.)

These are shots of what we saw, did and ate that day in Phuket City.

Phuket Old Town

Phuket Old Town is historically rich, and Thalang Road is lined with 100-year-old Sino-Portuguese 'shophouses'. Walking down the road reminds me of my mother's hometown Malacca which was also subject to the Portuguese rule for 130 years.

A traditional outfit we encountered, very similar to the Nonya Kebaya. My maternal grandmother is of the Nonya heritage, and a lot in Phuket Old Town reminded me a lot of my mother's side of the family:

A typical mini-bus in Phuket - not exactly the safest way to get around, but probably safer than hiring a scooter:

Talad Tai Rot (Phuket Weekend Market)

The weekend market in Phuket town is also known as Talad Tai Rot, which means "car boot sale". According to this website, these types of markets started after the East Asian financial crisis in 1997 when many lost jobs, and selling housewares from 'behind the car' was a means of survival. All sorts of things can be found in this market - clothes, shoes, watches, various knick knacks and food. We spent most of our time in the food section, after I'd bought a pair of sandals for me and sunglasses for the boy. The market is off Chao Fah West Road opposite Naka Temple (Wat Naka).

We arrived at the market around 4pm when stall owners were just setting up shop. This shot was taken on the periphery of the market, where it wasn't so crowded. Part of the Naka Temple can be seen to the right of the shot:

Khanom bueang (crispy pancakes) in the making:

Various fish balls and meat balls skewered and ready for cooking:

Squid satay sticks on the grill:

The internationally popular Thai fish cakes being fried in a deep-fryer:

We got one packet of 8 fish cakes, which were yummy:

The boy eating a fried sweet potato ball (after checking that it didn't contain any of the ingredients he is allergic to - my list of allergenic ingredients translated into Thai came in very handy):

I'd heard of Phuket pineapples, and these were the best pineapples I've ever eaten:

Very sweet and deliciously juicy:

A stall selling various cakes and sweets wrapped in leaves:

There was one stall selling crispy insects, and I bought a little of everything for 20baht, to try later if we were game:

Back at the hotel, the sweet goods we bought at the cake stall. Very similar to the Nonya kueh that I love so much. The spherical gray balls to the top of the image is sakoo sai moo (steamed tapioca balls filled with pork and peanuts), and are savoury and a little spicy:

The insects. Just hearing them clatter onto the plate made my skin tingle:

Our adventures in Phuket continued onto the next day, when we went on the Multi-adventure Safari tour - which included elephant trekking, watching Muay Thai and Thai cooking demonstration